Bisphosphonates were first developed to complex calcium in hard water to improve detergent performance. Bisphosphonates have since been found to be useful in the treatment and prevention of diseases or conditions characterized by abnormal calcium and phosphate metabolism. Such conditions may be divided into two broad categories:                1. Conditions which are characterized by anomalous mobilization of calcium and phosphate leading to general or specific bone loss or excessively high calcium and phosphate levels in the fluids of the body. Such conditions are sometimes referred to herein as pathological hard tissue demineralization.        2. Conditions which cause or result from deposition of calcium and phosphate anomalously in the body. These conditions are sometimes referred to herein as pathological calcifications.        
The first category includes osteoporosis, a condition in which bone hard tissue is lost disproportionately to the development of new hard tissue. Essential quantities of cancellous bone are lost, and marrow and bone spaces become larger, resulting in reduced cancellous bone strength. Bone also becomes less dense and fragile. Osteoporosis can be sub-classified as senile, drug induced (e.g., adrenocorticoid, as can occur in steroid therapy), disease induced (e.g., arthritic and tumor), etc., however the manifestations are similar. Another condition in the first category is Paget's disease (osteitis deformans). In this disease, dissolution of normal bone occurs, which is then haphazardly replaced by soft, poorly mineralized tissue such that the bone becomes deformed from pressures of weight bearing, particularly in the tibia and femur. Hyperparathyroidism, hypercalcemia of malignancy, and osteolytic bone metastasis are conditions also included in the first category.
The second category, involving conditions manifested by anomalous calcium and phosphate deposition, includes myositis ossificans progressiva, calcinosis universalis, and such afflictions as arthritis, neuritis, bursitis, tendonitis, and other inflammatory conditions which predispose involved tissue to deposition of calcium phosphates.
Bisphosphonates tend to inhibit the resorption of bone tissue, which is beneficial to patients suffering from excessive bone loss. However, many of the early bisphosphonates, such as ethane-1,1-diphosphonic acid (EHDP), propane-3-amino-1-hydroxy-1,1-diphosphonic acid (APD), and dichloromethane diphosphonic acid (Cl2MDP), have the propensity of inhibiting bone mineralization when administered at high dosage levels. Although more biologically potent bisphosphonates exist, which can be administered at lower dosage levels (such as 1-hydroxy-2-(3-pyridinyl)-ethylidene-1,1-bisphosphonic acid (risedronate), alendronate, ibandronate, and zoledronate), oral administration of bisphosphonates sometimes results in patient complaints shortly after dosing. These complaints are usually characterized by the patients as heartburn, esophageal burning, pain and/or difficulty upon swallowing, and/or pain existing behind and/or mid-sternum. It is hypothesized that this irritation results from the bisphosphonate tablet adhering to epithelial and mucosal tissues, resulting in the topical irritation thereof. In order to avoid potential upper gastrointestinal irritation, patients taking bisphosphonates are instructed to take their medication with a full glass of water, and to remain upright for at least thirty minutes after taking an oral dose of a bisphosphonate.
It is known that oral doses of bisphosphonates are poorly absorbed (less than 1% of the oral dose) in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. See Ezra et al., Adv. Drug Del. Rev. 42: 175-95 (2000). Several approaches have been suggested for increasing absorption of oral bisphosphonates throughout the GI tract. These approaches include modifying the permeability properties of the intestinal mucosa (e.g., through the use of absorption enhancers), or altering the physical or chemical properties of the bisphosphonate compounds themselves (e.g., through prodrugs).
While the use of absorption enhancers, such as ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA), that increase intestinal permeability at high doses, has been proposed as a means of increasing absorption of oral bisphosphonates, the applicability of EDTA as an agent in human pharmacotherapy has been thought to be “impossible” in light of the effects of EDTA on mucosal integrity. Ezra et al., Adv. Drug Del. Rev. 42: 185 (2000). Still others have concluded that the high amount of EDTA required to effect an increase in GI absorption would exclude the agent as a candidate for use in oral bisphosphonate therapies. See Janner et al., Calcif. Tissue Int. 49: 280-83 (1991).
While the primary site of bisphosphonate absorption is the small intestine, bisphosphonates such as risedronate have similar absorption throughout the small intestine independent of where it was delivered. See Mitchell et al., Pharm Res., Vol. 15, No. 2: 228-232 (1998). Thus targeted delivery of the bisphosphonate alone to the small intestine would not increase absorption or efficacy of the bisphosphonate. However, others have attempted to increase the absorption of bisphosphonates by increasing the permeability of the intestinal mucosa through delivery of microparticles of chelating agents and bisphosphonate to the reported site of absorption (BR2001-006601).
Bisphosphonates such as risedronate and alendronate have been approved by a number of regulatory agencies as being effective in the treatment of various bone pathologies. However, interactions between bisphosphonates and foods and minerals (especially cations like calcium, magnesium, aluminum, and iron-containing foods or supplements) cause less of the bisphosphonate to be available for absorption. For example, in Mitchell et. al., Br. J. Clin. Pharmacol. 48: 536-542 (1999), it was demonstrated that administration of risedronate within 30 minutes of a meal reduced the amount absorbed by 50% compared to administration in the fasting state. In order to reduce this food effect, the labeling of oral bisphosphonate products instruct patients to take their medication at least thirty minutes or in the case of Ibandonate sixty minutes, before the first food of the day, and are instructed to take their calcium supplements at another time of the day, or on a day when they are not taking an oral dose of a bisphosphonate. These dosing instructions can seem complex and inconvenient to the patient, which can lead to poor patient compliance.
There is an ongoing need to develop an oral dosage form of a bisphosphonate which can be taken with or without food or beverages (i.e. has pharmaceutically effective absorption regardless of food or beverage intake), at the preference of the patient, and which does not produce upper gastrointestinal irritation.
It has been found that a pharmaceutical composition comprising a bisphosphonate, a sufficient amount of chelating agent to bind the ions and minerals in food, and a means for effecting delayed release of the bisphosphonate and the chelating agent in the lower gastrointestinal tract is useful in providing an oral dosage form which provides delivery of the bisphosphonate to the lower gastrointestinal tract, as well as pharmaceutically effective absorption of the bisphosphonate when administered with or without food or beverages. The oral dosage forms of the present invention may be taken with or without food or beverages, thus simplifying the bisphosphonate treatment therapy and leading to increased patient compliance and convenience. Further, the oral dosage forms of the invention provide for delayed release of the bisphosphonate and the chelating agent in the lower gastrointestinal tract, which may alleviate the upper gastrointestinal irritation experienced with other oral bisphosphonate dosage forms and the need to remain upright for thirty minutes post-dose administration.